As textile substrates age, their color tends to fade or yellow due to exposure to light, air, soil, and natural degradation of the fibers that comprise the substrates. To counteract this unwanted effect, laundry detergent manufacturers incorporate hueing agents into their products. Thus, the purpose of hueing agents is typically to visually brighten these textile substrates and counteract the fading and yellowing of the textile substrates.
Hueing agents are typically formulated into solid laundry detergent compositions, especially free-flowing particulate laundry detergent compositions that comprise builders, such as zeolite builder and/or phosphate builder.
However, there is a general trend in laundry formulations toward systems with reduced builder levels and it is desirable that other aspects of the detergents composition can perform in lower builder environments.
However, the level of zeolite builder and/or phosphate builder can impact the performance profile of the hueing agent. Reducing the level of zeolite builder and/or phosphate builder in the solid detergent composition can significantly impair the performance of the hueing agent.
The Inventors have found that by using a specific hueing agent, herein referred to as bluing agent, in accordance with the present invention, in combination with very low, or even no, levels of zeolite builder and phosphate builder, a solid laundry detergent composition can be provided having excellent whiteness performance.